


The First Appointment.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels), valuna



Series: Urban Vampires [1]
Category: British Actor RPF, Dracula 2000 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-05-03
Updated: 2005-05-03
Packaged: 2017-10-03 04:50:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels, https://archiveofourown.org/users/valuna/pseuds/valuna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jonny has a problem and he goes to Dr. Butler for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Appointment.

The human leaving the office steps to one side, letting him pass. Jonny doesn't have to say anything. He just looks at the man. The stare works, but it helps to have the right style. It's heroin chic, according to the media, but for Jonny it's just the way he looks. Black suit, black tie, black trench. The white's on the shirt and the hair. "I've got an appointment," he says to the receptionist, flashing an easy smile. He doesn't know why he's here, 'cept Sean told him he needed to talk to someone or else he was gonna take Jonny's head off himself. So the appointment was made with one of the city's top shrinks, one who didn't mind talking to vampires.

The receptionist buzzes the intercom. "Send him in," Gerry says, and then sits back in the chair. The next appointment, according to his schedule, is a vampire named Jonny Lee Miller, but that doesn't faze him. Gerry doesn't mind vampires. They're an interesting study and they have problems that are so like and yet so unlike everything humans dump on him.

"Later?" Jonny smiles at the receptionist and opens the inner door, walking in and looking around. Nice office. Not overly posh, but obvious the doc's making some money. "Hi," he says, still grinning as he sits down in the chair across from the desk. "I'm Miller, but you know that, I imagine."

Gerry stands up and comes out from behind his desk. He offers Jonny his hand. "I'm Gerry Butler."

"I answer to Jonny or Lee, or both sometimes." Jonny reaches up, but doesn't stand, and takes Gerry's hand, shaking it firmly. Warm. Human. It feels better than nice, and it's a good thing he's eaten recently. Then he pulls back, settles into the comfortable chair.

Gerry nods, then sits on a chair across from Jonny. "Have you seen a psychologist before?"

"No. Don't need one." Jonny's defensive, shrugging off the notion that he should even be here.

"Are you here now because you need one?" Gerry keeps his tone friendly, not trying to sound accusing at all. "Or because someone you love thinks you need one?"

Jonny laughs. _Someone you love. Yeah. Right._ "I'm here 'cause Sean threatened to take my head off if I didn't talk to you."

"Or that," Gerry says easily. "Is Sean a relative?"

"In a way." It's not easy explaining what Sean is. A bit of everything. Master. Lover. Pimp. The man with the fixes. "He says my brain's messed up and he prefers me perfect."

"All right." Gerry files that away. Man named Sean who thinks Jonny should fit his definition of perfect. "Is there anyone else in your life?"

"Lots of people. Vamps mostly. Why?"

"Just curious."

Jonny pulls his feet up into the chair, Doc Martens tucked against the inside of the trench. "Rumor has it I'm having issues with my last relationship, if you're curious 'bout that."

"Might be." Gerry nods. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Wasn't my fault. Human couldn't deal. He left." Jonny shrugs.

"Human have a name?"

"Yeah. Brian. I think."

"Brian," Gerry repeats. _He thinks._ Either that's a coverup or Jonny really doesn't care. And since Jonny seems to be in here because of Brian, Gerry's going for coverup. "And when did Brian leave?"

"Month or so. Sean says that's the problem. Didn't end well. I got pissed. Took off a few heads I shouldn't've." Jonny grins.

"Have you had any relationships since then?"

"I've bitten a couple people. Had sex." Jonny laughs, staring at Gerry. _Nice. Not bad. Attractive._ "Does suck and fuck mean it's a relationship?"

"Not in general. It helps to have more than just a fleeting encounter as a basis." Gerry returns Jonny's stare. _You don't fool me, and I'm never going to have sex with you._ "So, it's just Brian? What made him special?"

Jonny doesn't blink, wills his eyes to change color, blend from emerald to indigo. "He didn't seem to mind I was a vamp. Got off on being bitten. You ever been bitten, doc? It's wild."

Gerry licks his lips quickly and pulls back. That eye trick's freaky. He's always thought so. But it's best not to concentrate on disquieting things about clients. Can't let them know they've gotten to you. "I've been bitten," he says. It's just phantom pain that his neck is throbbing. It's only phantom pain. "I was less than impressed, but I'm sure your technique is better."

"Yeah, I'm better than anyone who's had you." It's bragging but the words come out of Jonny's mouth with a practiced ease. He believes it, and he can prove it. "I'm a great fuck, too, so no reason for Brian to be unhappy about that."

"And you're obviously very humble," Gerry says dryly. "So why did Brian leave?"

"He didn't say. Not really. He just left." Jonny looks away, at the ceiling, the painting on the wall. "Nice. I think I have one by the same artist."

Gerry looks. "That one's a print." It's water lilies. Perfectly generic. "Somehow I doubt you'd settle for anything less than an original." It's just a hunch, of course, but there are some things about vampires that tend to be true for all of them. Mostly, they're vain motherfuckers who can't be bothered to remember the name of the human they just fucked.

"It depends. Sean has more originals than I do, but he has more money." Jonny tilts his head. "I don't have the lilies, but I have a sunrise he did." He glances back at Gerry. "You don't like us much, do you? Think we're all vain and imagine ourselves to be so fuckin' superior to humans."

"I do think you're vain," Gerry says, "but I think you have every right to be. And, facts are, you are superior to humans. Physically speaking." He smiles. "Otherwise, you're exactly the same as everyone else. Surprise."

"Mentally, too, if you believe Jude. He says we naturally have 30 to 40 IQ points on you guys." Jonny draws his knees up, locks his hands around them, leaning forward. "Glad you like us vain. I don't do humility well."

"I don't think your friend, Jude?, has much evidence to support that conclusion. Unless vampires consistently only turn geniuses, it's unlikely. Then again, there are more humans than there are vampires."

Jonny shrugs, pulls in his knees closer to his chest. "Dunno. Jude's into research. He studies us. Kinda like you're doing. I've never turned a genius. Never turned much of anyone."

_Doesn't like to turn people,_ Gerry notes. "And how do you know Jude?"

"We were turned by the same vampire, been together a long time. He's older, by the way, by about 20 years." Jonny smiles. "I'm a middle child. There's probably something in that."

Gerry doubts that. "And how long have you been a vampire?"

"A couple hundred years, or somewhere 'round there. Time gets kinda lost after awhile."

"I can imagine." Gerry scratches his wrist with his index finger and leans in. "So, what's a two hundred-some-year-old man doing in my office?"

"Trying not to get himself killed." Jonny watches the movement, fascinated by the simple gesture. "Haven't fed in about a week," he says absently, glancing up. "Don't worry. I can go a lot longer."

"I'm not worried. You signed an agreement saying you wouldn't bite or kill me in your paperwork." Gerry smiles charmingly. _Still sizing me up?_ "So, will someone kill you, or do you think someone will, if you don't talk to me?"

"Figure of speech, doc." Jonny tracks Gerry's finger as it moves, slowly bringing his gaze back to Gerry's face. "But I suspect if I don't get my shite together, Sean'll do the next best thing, drain me out for a few days, take away the good stuff." He sniffles, rubbing the back of his hand over his nose. "My bet is he's worried I'm gonna freak on 'em if I don't snap out of the depression and start feeding."

Gerry wasn't sure. In his experience, it was always better to take vampires at their word. Sometimes they meant every single word but said it like they didn't. And other times they're just jerking his chain. Jonny's fake-crying is definitely just jerking his chain. "So you're not feeding," he says. "When was the last time?"

"Uh, eight days ago. Wasn't very good, either. Tasted weird, like it was tainted, but then I didn't ask for references so no telling what kind of blood I was getting." Jonny's not sure why he's telling Gerry all this, except maybe just to keep talking, occupy the hour. "Bet you'd taste a lot better."

Gerry ignores that last part. "Was it the normal kind of blood that you usually drink?"

"Yeah, some girl at some club, usually what we pick up, the wannabes." Jonny looks down, then up, shifting his eye colour again, this time to something with a decided grey cast. "You aren't easy to rattle. I like that."

"Thank you." Gerry's not sure it's actually a compliment, what with the way Jonny's eyes make him feel like he's the only one in the world. _Concentrate._ "Do you normally bite girls?"

"Bite 'em, just don't fuck 'em." Jonny's grin is wider, hint of fangs showing before he continues, carefully enunciating. "Guys, I do both. Fuck. And suck. And keep around."

_Don't let them know they're getting to you._ Gerry repeats it over and over again in his head. Never let a client know that they're getting to you. Undermines everything. Gerry nods, trying to seem professional about it. "And do women usually taste wrong to you?"

"Girls taste strange 'cause there's no fuck with the suck. It's just the blood, and blood's never as good when there's not a bit of arousal." Jonny can tell he's getting to Gerry, maybe, just a bit. He dips his head, resting his chin on his knees. "She was worse than that. Tasted bad, but didn't make me sick. Just kinda put me off feeding."

"Anemic?"

"Anemic. Hmm. Never thought about it. Low iron count cause depression, doc?"

"Not in you, in the girl. I'm wondering if there's a physical reason she tasted badly."

Jonny laughs. "Oh, yeah, could be. Still doesn't explain why I'm depressed and don't wanna eat."

"No, it doesn't." Gerry crosses his legs. "What did Brian look like?"

"Dirty blonde, blue eyes, about your height. Fuckably gorgeous." Jonny cocks his head, stares at Gerry's eyes. "Do you know your eyes aren't one colour? I've been trying to figure that out. Greygreenblue," he says, slurring the words together. "Like ocean ripples, I guess."

Funny. The last vampire who'd bitten Gerry had been very keen on that also. Gerry'd taken to wearing glasses after that, but had tossed them after he realized that they were a crutch. "And how long did you know Brian?"

"Two years, seven months, six days and 14 hours," Jonny says quickly, shrugging, "give or take a second."

_Interesting._ "And do you normally keep such meticulous records of your relationships?"

"When they matter. Mostly it's a natural thing, some weird internal clock I've got that tracks things like that."

So Brian mattered. And Brian left. Gerry wonders if Brian's still alive. "Did you two fight a lot?"

Jonny doesn't answer, ignores the question, isn't about to say _yes_. "Your eyes just shifted to green. Is that because you're horny or pissed?"

Gerry smiles. Vampires really are exactly the same as humans. "It's because of the pull of the tides," he says. "Or the shifting of the moon. You like to watch the moon set?"

That gets a laugh and Jonny uncoils his body. He shrugs out of the trench, leaving it on the chair as he rises, stretches, suit moving with him, shirt pulling up. He walks toward the large window overlooking the city. Sun's setting. "Prefer to watch it rise. That means night's starting, and night's better than the day. Everything's clearer. Brian liked the night, till the tide took him under. I bet you wouldn't drown."

"I know how to swim." Gerry tracks Jonny's movement. "I love to watch the sun set. It's simply gorgeous. When I was a kid, my dad used to take me out during the summer and we'd watch it from a field. I always hated when it sank beneath the horizon because then all the colors would turn dark and fade. I never could figure out the constellations."

"That's one of the things I miss. The colors. They're not the same once you've been turned." Jonny watches till the sun's down, then turns, leaning back against the window. "Constellations aren't hard. I could show you."

"Better or worse?" That's something Gerry's always been curious about. What changes, what stays the same.

"Neither. Both." Jonny shoves his hands into his pockets, the suit pulling at its buttons against his chest. "We can see heat so the sun really screws up our senses. We lose the purples and pinks in the ripples of red."

Makes sense. "I know your kind is nocturnal by choice." 'Your kind'. Gerry mentally curses himself for the slip. "Is anything different about night vision?"

"It's sharper. Not perfect, but everything's brighter than human see it." Jonny laughs, reaches into his pocket and pulls out his glasses, black-rimmed ones, and puts them on. "Being turned doesn't mean you get 20/20 vision."

"No? I thought it fixed things like that?"

"Nah. Makes 'em less of a nuisance, kinda compensates, but doesn't fix." Jonny adjusts his glasses up his nose. "I don't mind, and some guys find the glasses sexy."

And some use them to hide. Gerry nods and leans forward. "Did Brian like them?"

"Sort of. He thought they made me cute." Jonny frowns. "At first, he thought everything made me cute. The hair, the clothes, the fangs. I think Brian just got bored with it all. Or maybe bored with me."

"Were you his first vampire?" Gerry asks. "I didn't peg you as someone who'd go for the tourists, unless you wanted to scare the shit out of them."

"I don't do tourists, unless I'm really desperate." Jonny pulls himself off the window and moves back toward Gerry. "And they're not the only ones who get off on being scared. Brian liked that. And, no, I wasn't his first vamp."

Gerry nods. He'll bet good money that Jonny liked scaring Brian, went out of his way to do it properly. "Did you ever tell him you were going to kill him?"

"No," Jonny says quickly. "Told him I'd turn him if he wanted. He never answered me."

"Mmhmm." Gerry studies Jonny's face. "When did you say it, after sex?"

Jonny tilts his head, meeting Gerry's gaze with a grin and stare. "Does it matter _when_ I said it? He obviously didn't want it, or he would've stayed."

Gerry returns the grin, but he knows his isn't the least bit feral. "If he didn't think you meant it, if he thought you were just jerking his chain, he might have left just so he wouldn't have to listen to you taunting him all the time."

"Why the fuck wouldn't I mean it?" Jonny's eyes turn colour again, a dark blue, almost black, and his voice tightens. "I fuckin' loved him. Wouldn't tease about turning. Ever."

Gerry keeps his voice even. "I know that. For you, turning is the biggest thing there is. You're saying that you want him around forever. But I'm saying that humans know that they can be strung along by vampires and that everyone says things after sex that they don't mean."

"Humans say things they don't mean." Jonny's voice is terse, his words sharper than he might like. "They're the ones who make promises to be around forever, to stay through the night. Not us."

_So, tell me, Jonny, do you feel strongly about this?_ Gerry wonders who left Jonny, to make him that bitter. But that's not a first session question. That's something that needs to be built up to. "All right. I apologize for the question."

"S'okay, doc." Jonny shrugs, walks back to his chair. "Hour's almost up anyway." It's a bittersweet thought, Jonny really not wanting to talk anymore but getting comfortable with the shrink.

Gerry checks the clock. "You still have ten minutes. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

"You ever get out of the office?"

"I keep regular hours," Gerry replies. "Printed on the door. Think I'm ever here when I don't have to be?" Of course he is. There's still paperwork. But that was either a stupid question or a leading one, and Gerry doesn't socialize with clients. Ever.

It was a leading question. Jonny just wasn't sure where it'd lead. "So if I need to talk at 2 in the morning, where'd I find you?"

Gerry raises an eyebrow. "And why would you need to talk to me at 2 am?"

"If I get some epiphany about my problem." Jonny picks up his trench, drapes it over his shoulder. "Or just get lonely. Don't you listen to that?"

"If you get an epiphany, I'm sure it can wait to morning, and you've named several friends. I'm sure they can keep you company." Gerry looks at Jonny. "I try to keep my personal number for those who are suicidal or on the edge emotionally. You don't strike me as either of those types. But I've been wrong before."

Jonny grins. He doesn't need the number. He can figure out easily enough how to find Gerry. "Guess I should make another appointment, then. Doubt Sean's gonna think I'm cured after an hour."

"No, he doesn't sound like an idiot." Gerry doesn't like that look on Jonny's face. It's like Jonny's about to eat him and there's nothing Gerry can do about it, or want to do about it. Unsettling, to say the least.

"Nah, he isn't." Jonny turns and walks toward the door. "So, see you next week, doc." _If not before._

Gerry stands up. "Sit down, Mr Miller. You have five minutes left."

Jonny turns around, leans against the door. "How 'bout we save 'em? I'll come early next time."

"That's not how it works. You can't save it up for other times."

"Okay." Jonny shrugs, but doesn't move away from the door. Five minutes to use up. "You date patients?"

"No. Do you date doctors?"

"Yeah, if they're tall, dark and taste good."

Tall, yes. Dark, yes. But taste good? "I don't taste good," Gerry says, resisting the urge to smirk. "I have that on good authority."

"Taste, like beauty," Jonny says, moving quickly across to stand in front of Gerry, "is the beholder's decision." He leans in, licks across Gerry's lips, and just as quickly draws back. "I think you taste fine."

Gerry pulls back immediately. _Careful, Gerry, your neuroses are showing._ "And I think you won't do that again, or you'll see Dr. Sobol."

"Sure thing, doc." Jonny steps back and is at the door again in the blink of an eye. "Think my five minutes are up now."

_This one is going to be a challenge._ But it'll be a fun challenge. That is, as long as Jonny never does that again. "Yeah. Schedule another appointment with the receptionist."

Jonny's hand is on the door and he's shutting it behind him almost before Gerry gets the words out. _ This one is going to be fun._ He flashes a smile at the receptionist as he makes his way out of the office; he'll call later for that appointment.

Gerry leans back against his desk and picks up his notepad absently. He scribbles some notes on it to remind him about why Jonny came, then puts it down. He sighs and rubs his temples. If Jonny's going to keep affecting him like that, he might as well wank _before_ the sessions in the future.

It would save time.


End file.
